Florida Georgia Line Compare Themselves to Alabama

Florida Georgia Line's music may not be considered traditional country, but they say that it's okay that their music shares common ground with rock and pop.

Band member Brian Kelley says that traditional country fans' reactions to their music isn't all that different than the reactions Alabama received when they jumped into the scene in the '70s.

"We relate to them, and they said they relate to us," Kelley tells CMT about the legendary band. "People said they weren't country when they first came out, when they were playing bars and playing their instruments and rocking out. But that's the cool thing about country music. There are just so many different sounds. Anything's possible, and that's so cool."

With 43 No. 1 records and over 73 million album sales, there's no arguing that Alabama helped bring country music into the mainstream.

"When we came up, we were considered different. Wearing t-shirts and tennis shoes and having long hair and playing loud," Alabama's Teddy Gentry told The Boot in 2012. "So you just have to go with what you’ve got."